Interview with chef who cooked for the British royal family

When Darren McGrady was 18, he graduated at the top of his class from culinary school in Nottingham. He was ready for his meteoric rise.

When he was hired as a chef at London’s Savoy Hotel, his ego threatened to explode from outsized inflation. That is, until he reported to work.

“But instead of being head chef, I was chef number 70 and everyone in the kitchen was speaking French. I thought I knew everything about cooking,” he says.

He worked his way up to saucier, a prestigious position in a such a kitchen. After the Charles and Diana wedding, he thought how cool it would be to work in the Royal kitchen so he applied and got the job. There, he was chef No. 20 and he began by peeling carrots, cutting them into finger lengths for the Queen’s horse, putting them in a paper bag, and creasing the bag just so. “The groom would put it in the Queen’s riding pocket. The horse thought they grew that way.”

Darren McGrady, fifth from the right.

He went on to become a trusted chef to the royal family, working for the Queen from 1982 to 1993 and then for Princess Di and her two boys from 1993 until her shocking death in 1997.

Recently, at the West Coast Women’s Show in Abbotsford, McGrady talked about his time with the Royals and he cooked three of the Royals’ favourite dishes (a salad with maple syrup in the dressing andbread and butter pudding, favourites of Princess Di and a polenta and shrimp dish that Prince Philip liked).

To cook for the Royals was to know their likes and dislikes (the queen doesn’t eat garlic or paprika, for instance) and to prepare meals for all their guests, whether personal or official. “The Queen would be having dinner for two in one room, Prince Philip would be hosting a dinner for 200 for the World Wildlife Fund, Prince Edward would have 12 friends over and Sara Ferguson would be eating with her friends,” he says of a typical scenario. There would be garden parties, charity fundraisers or a tea for the Queen’s grandsons or for 50.

“It was very much like Downton Abbey,” he says. When she wasn’t hosting, the Queen ate frugally and simply. “It always amazed me. The horses and dogs could have whatever they wanted but we scrimped and scraped in the kitchen. Once we did a plate of salmon with scrambled eggs which she liked before going the theatre. Instead of the usual wedge of lemon, we cut one in half and did a pig tail. It was pretty but the queen took a squeeze of lemon and sent it back saying ‘I think we could use this again’. If we did a Sunday roast of beef or venison or chicken, if there was anything left, she would ask that it be used for pie. It’s from growing up during the War.” says McGrady.” The copper pots and pans, which date back to Queen Victoria, would travel with the chefs and the Queen.

“The Queen ate to live,” McGrady, who now lives in Texas, says, “and the Prince (Philip) lived to eat. He’d come down to the kitchen at Balmoral to do barbecues on the 50,000-acre estate. I’d marinate and prepare them and he’d cook them on a grill in the forest. The queen ate tiny, tiny portions and had four meals a day. The Prince loved to cook and try out different foods. She loved chocolate-anything and her favourite was something called a chocolate perfection pie with six layers of cinnamon meringue, chocolate mousse, ganache, cinnamon cream.”

McGrady knew when Prince William would be coming for tea because there would be a request for chocolate biscuit cake. It became his groom’s cake when he married.

At other teas, there would be cakes, cupcakes, biscuit, tarts, chocolate eclairs, and always, scones. “If the scones weren’t eaten, the Queen would crumble them onto the carpet for her corgies. There were 12 of them when I worked there and they had their own menus,” says McGrady. The kitchen staff, it seems, were not amused with the short little canines.

“They were nasty dogs. The kitchen was close to the dining room and when the Queen came to the kitchen, the dogs would run in, yapping. When senior staff flew to Balmoral with the Queen, they had to wear suits and the dogs would leave hairs all over them. One kicked a corgi off his foot and the dog yelped and he got this look from the Queen.” And when the young princes learned to shoot and hunt, the kitchen would cook up the meat for the dogs.

McGrady was fourth in command and had cooked for many heads of states when he went to work for Princess Diana in 1993. “It was tough after the separation (from Prince Charles),” he says. “She was struggling with bulimia and I don’t like to talk about it but she would ask for dishes I knew she shouldn’t be eating.”

As patron of 119 charities, she had a busy schedule and tried to keep trim. “She worked out three times a week. She said ‘Darren, I’ll take care of the carbs at the gym; I want you to take care of the fats’.” McGrady loved the Princess and her two sons and the relaxed environment. “William and Harry were in the kitchen all the time. She’d make coffee but she was the worst cook in the world and didn’t like cooking.” He worked Monday to Friday and often left food for the family to reheat. “Once she had a friend over and decided to cook pasta. The pan of water boiled over and the pilot light went out. She later smelled gas and called the fire brigade. When I came to work, she told me about it and said ‘The best part was I had 12 hunky firemen all to myself’.”

Her favourite dish, he says, were stuffed bell peppers, big salads and grilled poached chicken. That was lunch every day with fresh fruit. And her favourite dessert was bread and butter pudding, “a cross between bread pudding and crème brûlée” made with egg yolks, not whole eggs.

The Queen “loved alcohol in her food,” he says, “and her favourite was beef tenderloin in whisky cream sauce.”

“William and Harry had children’s palates when I was cooking for them. They loved comfort food. They loved the burgers, chicken tenders, loaded potato skins and banana flan was a favourite.”

And the boys would often join him in the kitchen. “They’d run into the kitchen all the time when they were bored or there was nothing on TV; they’d want to make mummy’s lunch,” says McGrady. He remembers holding Prince William as a baby and warming his milk. “Now he has a little boy of his own.”

And on that tragic day Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris, McGrady woke up prepared to go to work taking the groceries he’d bought a day earlier. “It was going to be a happy day. The boys were flying in from Balmoral. They were meeting at Heathrow (Airport) and coming to the palace. I turned on the TV and heard the Princess was dead. I thought it was a sick joke. I couldn’t get through to Kensington Palace and I couldn’t accept she was gone and I took the food in,” he says.

Afterwards, he helped compile the list of people for her funeral. She was, he says, a beacon of light. “She lit up the room and did so much for charity. She absolutely wanted to know when my family’s birthdays were and sent flowers.”

He was able to spend a few moments alone with her and he thanked the Princess for the amazing times, for holding his newborn daughter, and for being so special.

After her death, he left the job. He now lives in Texas and works as a chef for a wealthy family.

Recipes:

Gaelic Steaks Queen Elizabeth likes booze in her food and this steak that chef Darren McGrady cooked for her when he was a Royal chef was one of her favourites.

Season the tenderloins with salt and pepper and add to a hot skillet with 2 tbsp (30 mL) of the olive oil. Cook over medium heat for about 4 minutes on each side. Remove from skillet onto a plate, cover and keep in a warm place. In a saute pan, add the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil and place over a low heat. Add the onion and cook until it softens. Stir in the mushrooms and garlic and saute until the mushrooms soften. Stir in the whisky, cream, broth and Marmite and increase the heat to reduce the liquid. When you have a nice consistency, remove the sauce from the heat and adjust the seasoning. Add the juices from the tenderloins and the chopped parsley and serve over the steak with more parsley as garnish. Makes 4 servings.

Chocolate Perfection Pie

“Queen Elizabeth II is a chocoholic so anything with chocolate in the recipe is sure to be ‘passed for the royal table,” says former Royal chef, Darren McGrady. “This recipe has been in the family for years and one of Her Majesty’s favourites. Fit for a Queen!” — Darren McGrady

Preheat the oven to 350 F. For pastry shell, in large bowl, add flour and sugar and rub in the butter to resemble fine crumbs. Add the egg yolk and cream and form the dough into a ball. Roll out the dough and line a 9-inch (23 cm) flan ring then partially bake. Filling: Place a mixing bowl over a pan of boiling water and add eggs, cinnamon, sugar, vinegar and salt. Whisk until the mixture starts to foam and then remove the bowl from the top of the pan to a cool surface. Continue whisking until the mixture reaches the ribbon stage. Pour onto the base of the flan and return to the oven until the filling has risen and is firm to the touch, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven to a cooling rack and allow filling to sink down. This is the first layer. Melt 6 oz (170 g) of the chocolate and add water and egg yolks. Whisk until combined. Spoon half of the chocolate mix over the top of the sunken filling and return the flan to the oven for a further 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the flan to cool completely. This is the second layer. Beat the cream and cinnamon until still and carefully spread half of the mix onto the flan. This is the third layer. Fold the remaining cream and cinnamon mix into the remaining chocolate mix and spread onto the flan. This is the fourth layer. Sprinkle on the graded white chocolate and refrigerate until set, about 1 hour. Makes 8 servings.

Prince William’s Favourite Banana Flan

“William and Harry could polish off a whole one of these in a sitting.” — Darren McGrady. (The recipe for the pastry makes about double what you will need. You can freeze the extra and save it for another flan!)

Pastry: In food processor, add sugar, butter, egg and vanilla. Pulse until smooth and add the flour. Tip out onto a floured surface and mix to form a smooth dough. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Roll out the pastry to about 1/4-in (6 mm) thickness and line a 9-inch (23 cm) flan ring. Refrigerate for abou5 45 minutes. Blind bake using beans to hold the shape of the pastry unmtil it’s firm and golden grown. Remove from the oven; remove the beans and set aside.

Filling: In a heavy saucepan, bring the milk and cream to the boil. Place the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together. Pour the milk over the egg mixture and whisk. When the milk is incorporated pour the contents back into the pan and return to the heat. Continue whisking the pastry cream until it thickens, about 4 minutes, then remove from the heat and spoon into the baked pastry shell. Slice the bananas into 1/4-in discs and arrange neatly on top of the warm filling. Bring the apricot jelly to a boil in a small pan and brush over the top of the bananas. Makes 6 servings or enough for two hungry princes.